Preparation of PP non-woven fabric with good heavy metal adsorption performance via plasma modification and graft polymerization

In this study, a facile approach to efficiently improve hydrophilic and metal ion adsorption performance of the PP non-woven material was proposed. Low temperature plasma technology was first used to produce polar groups on surface of the fabric. Chitosan and 1-vinylimidazole were then grafted on the surface via a series of chemical reactions to get skill in chelating with the copper ions of wastewater. The effect of low temperature plasma treatment time and power on the hydrophilic properties and surface morphology of PP non-woven fabric were investigated to acquire the best processing parameter. The structure and morphology of the grafted fabric was characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), respectively. Contact angle and Cu2+ adsorption test were used to evaluate the hydrophilicity and adsorption properties of the grafted fabric. It was shown that the grafted fabric was more hydrophilic than that of the pristine fabric and the adsorption capacity was positively correlated with the time and concentration. Per-gram fabric could trap 28.21 mg copper ions after adsorption for 300 min in copper ion solution with a concentration of 1.0 g/L. The grafted PP non-woven fabric has great potential application in environmental protection field.